


The Lower Cavern

by Rhyana



Category: Dragonriders of Pern - McCaffrey
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-25
Updated: 2009-11-25
Packaged: 2017-10-03 17:33:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhyana/pseuds/Rhyana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She dreams of flying, of blue skies, and a kindred spirit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lower Cavern

**Author's Note:**

> 2008 Yuletide story for Eclecticmum. I would like to thank blienky27 for quickly and helpfully betaing this story. It was much appreciated.

_The Lower Caverns were abuzz with the rumor that a Ruathan girl had been found during F'lar's search of the High Reaches holds. The other women who worked in the kitchens were sure that such a person would have been found sooner, but Anisa hadn't been as skeptical. After all, she had watched F'lar for the last five turns, and knew that if he had set his mind to finding a Ruathan, he had found her._

The next word to come down to the Caverns was that she was a drudge. This amazed the workers to no end; workers rarely were chosen by the riders, who preferred the higher born chits and craft holders sons. The every day folk were more often than not passed over.

But when the girl arrived, Anise saw for herself that she was in fact a drudge. With her dirty, tattered clothing, her hold must not have taken good care of its workers, that's all she could think. Still, for a tiny little thing, Anisa could see strength in her, something that Jora had never possessed. Change, both in Weyrwomen and in the lives of the Weyr citizens, was definitely in order. In the meantime, Anisa worked with little contact with her new mistress, and dreamt of flying through the blue skies.

*********************************************************

"Come along, girl, and stop your daydreaming," Manora scolded the kitchen drudge known as Anisa. "The coals need turning and beds need airing out. The Hold Lords and the Craftmasters will be hear before the day is out, and I want this place cleaned from top to bottom. Do you understand me, child?" Anisa quickly nodded her head and took off to turn the coals.

The Lady's dragon had flown the bronzes sometime back, and laid out thirty-two eggs, mottled except for the queen egg that was sitting away from the others. The Lords and Masters were coming to watch a Hatching, the first since Robinton had passed.

The Lords and Masters would be quartered in the upper levels, and it was rare that Manora would send a kitchen drudge to do the work, but Anisa was quick and quiet, and it would keep her out of the cobwebs she liked to dwell in.

As she climbed the stairs from the kitchen to the guest quarters, she watched the riders preparing for the hatching that night. Since the talking machine had been found and lost, along with her favorite Harper, the riders had been busy going over the documents it had left behind. Already new words had begun to trickle down to the lower reaches of the weyr, but she didn't know quite what they meant. The Lady and the Leader called the machine a 'computer,' and had said that there had been 'spacecraft' which brought their ancestors to Pern.

The last bit, Anisa strongly believed, was rubbish. People had been on Pern since the dawning of the Three Sisters, and they'd be here until the stars faded to nothing. She had heard other rumors, that dragons came from the tiny, busy fire lizards, but that was something Anisa could quite see actually happening.

She shook herself back into the present as she entered the first guest's room, one she had cleaned during the last Hatching for one of the Masters, that Anisa came upon the Lady. Small, dark and tanned from her time in the South, she was looking out to the sands, and her mount. Anisa looked at the Lady in surprise, and turned to make a quick exit.

"Stay," said the Lady, her eyes never leaving the sands. "You need to work, and I will not get in the way." Anisa nodded and began her chores. She worked as she had been taught, quickly and quietly. She was about to turn the coals to warm the room when the Lady spoke again.

"You're Anisa, right?" The drudge nodded. Lessa smiled. "Ramoth says you have given your eyes and ears to the wind." Anisa blushed. "Don't be ashamed. Knowledge, either from what you have heard or seen, is nothing to be embarrassed. I did the same, once upon a time."

"When you were a worker, like me?" Anisa asked, turning back to finish her job. She didn't see the myriad of emotions cross Lessa's face, and when she turned to face her again, Anisa only saw the Lady staring back.

"Yes, when I was worker, like you. No doubt you've heard the story." Anisa nodded, having heard bits and pieces over the years. Some of the younger Harpers had even tried once or twice to make it into a ballad, but Anisa had heard their efforts had been stopped by Robinton.

"There are things we know about, those of us who have worked in the pits and the kitchens, things that those who were born to Hold, Craft or Rider don't. We know cruelty and kindness, hunger and plenty. We have our roles to play, but at the end of the day, Anisa, there are some days I wish I could hide in my stable with my loyal old watch-wher. I liked my freedom. Being this, it isn't what I once wanted, and while I wouldn't give Ramoth up for all the Ruathas, I miss having that choice." She stood quietly by the opening, and Anisa could see the young woman she had been and the Lady she had become.

"Why did you tell me that?" she asked. And the Lady smiled, and the drudge could see something had lightened on her shoulders.

"Because you were here, and Robinton isn't. He loved looking out to the sands and dreaming of the future. And because we are kinswomen through our experiences." She turned to walk away, but stopped to look back.

"The eggs will hatch tomorrow. If Manora will let you, come to the sands and watch. It may be some time before we have another." And then she was gone.

*********************************************************

Manora had plans for Anisa when she got back from her duties, so she didn't know the eggs had hatched until the weyrlings and their hatchlings arrived in the feeding area. She watched in rapture as the young dragons begged for more meat, and at the wordless conversations going on between the newly formed partners. She could hear the harpers singing and the visitors conversations flowing from table to table, but she just watched the youngsters bond.

And when she finally went to bed that night, she dreamt of flying through blue skies and the sound of joy echoing through her soul. Perhaps, she thought the next morning, one day.


End file.
